The Human Highlight Film in action. Stephen Dunn/Allsport

CNNSI.com's Loughery: This is a franchise killer. By far the toughest trade for Atlanta fans. In all honesty, skill-wise this was not a bad trade. However from a fan base, it set the Hawks back a long way. I've been in Atlanta for 20 years, and Dominique has been the biggest star athletically in those 20 years, and that's counting baseball, football and hockey twice. This is the player the fans associated with. You didn't have to say Wilkins -- just 'Nique.

Lenny Wilkens was the coach, 'Nique was aging. I think the team felt if they didn't trade him at that stage, they wouldn't get value for him. And, again, the trade value, talent-for-talent, was OK. But to the fans and the franchise, that was a killer.

CNNSI.com: And the hits kept coming. Manning played 26 regular-season and 11 playoff games with the Hawks, then rejected a long-term deal and bolted to Phoenix. He blew out his knee not long after, but that didn't lessen the fact that Atlanta got zilch for Wilkins and a first-round pick. Wilkins bounced around from L.A. to Boston to San Antonio and Boston (and Greece), a former star without a team (or country, apparently).

Hawks fans still haven't forgiven management, raining boos on Hawks president Stan Kasten for 15 solid minutes during Wilkins' jersey retirement ceremonies this season.

Loss of Manning makes earlier trade hype hollow Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- August 4, 1994 By Steve Hummer You trade the figurehead of a franchise and a first-round draft choice for a slap in the face. Such a deal generally is not considered wily. It is not the recommended way to build for greatness. The Hawks, after all, have obtained numerous shots to the head and body and paid nothing for them. To lose Danny Manning is difficult enough. The Hawks say they were prepared for this abandonment. "In-house, we asked ourself the question, 'Would we do this if we knew Danny would not be back?' " said general manager Pete Babcock, describing a pre-trade scenario. "It was unanimous on our staff that it was worth making the deal. "Lenny [Wilkens] and I are disappointed Danny is not coming back. But we were prepared for it. We made the trade with the understanding he wouldn't be back." Somehow, it was never made clear last season that the Hawks were just renting Manning. Hope they got their deposit back.

Garrick Respress, Statesboro, Ga.:   Wilkins topped out at 30.7 ppg in 1987-88. Mike Powell/Allsport "Dominique carried the torch for Atlanta's and Georgia's professional sports. Dominique is still the leading scorer in the history of the University of Georgia and the greatest player to make a career in a Hawks uniform! When the Braves were losing to college teams in exhibition games and Steve Bartkowski was getting sacked 15 times in a Falcons game, we Georgians had Dominique. Furthermore, this was an era when Atlanta's sports teams represented the entire South. "Dominique was the only guy in the East who could go basket for basket with Larry Bird and Boston. What gratitude did the Hawks organization show? Well, they traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers for 'Mr. Softie,' Danny Manning. "I'm sure that Brooklyn misses the Dodgers and Cleveland was lonely without the Browns. In my life nothing has affected me as much as the distasteful move made by the Hawks and Pete Babcock in trading Dominique Wilkins."

How much would you pay for 4.5 ppg and 4.9 rpg? Mike Powell/Allsport

CNNSI.com's Loughery: Koncak had a great postseason in '89, and Detroit made him a big offer in the offseason. That was a situation because here was Atlanta trying to compete against Detroit in the East and they had to match the contract. They probably signed him as much to keep him as to not let him go to Detroit. Koncak had a great playoff against Milwaukee, everything went right for him and he had himself quite a series.

It looks like a mistake, it's easy to say they should have let him go. But at the time, it would have been difficult to let him go to Detroit.

CNNSI.com: Even at 7-feet, Jon Koncak was capable of playing over his head just long enough to secure a contract that quickly became a league-wide joke. After averaging 12.8 ppg (more than twice his career average) in a five-game postseason loss to Milwaukee, Koncak was targeted by the Pistons as the key component to back-to-back titles.

The Hawks, who had just signed Dominique Wilkins to a big contract, dug deep to keep Koncak, perhaps figuring he would eventually regain the post presence that made him a lottery pick out of SMU. He didn't, never averaging more than 4.2 points or 5.5 rebounds in any of the six ridicule-filled seasons.

By the way, Detroit got over not landing Koncak, winning its second title while the Hawks missed the playoffs.

Big contracts root of strife in Koncak, Blauser careers Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- May 26, 1996 By Furman Bisher Jon Koncak's career with the Hawks had been mainly spent as a wide body in the traffic lane when he became a free agent. The Detroit Pistons shocked the community when they offered him a $13 million contract for four years. The Hawks returned the shock when they matched the offer to keep him. It wasn't Koncak's hard bargaining. He was only a large pawn in the games that these sports geniuses play. What was he going to say? "No thanks, I'll play for less." No more than your wife would turn down a new Jaguar for Christmas. Koncak spent the following seasons in the crosshair of fans' darts -- like a guy who had been caught stealing from the poor box. He was jeered and hooted, often cheered with derision, even the night when he scored 20 points. It took everybody by surprise, even him, like an unexpected visit from Halley's Comet. Because of the money, he had been turned into an object of resentment. It hadn't been his idea. He wouldn't have been so presumptuous as to suggest that he was worth $13 million.

J.R. Rider vowed to be a team player in Atlanta. Otto Greule Jr./Allsport CNNSI.com's Loughery: It's hard to believe why anybody would bring Rider into their locker room, although talent-wise you could see the temptation. But in my opinion, there's no way you bring J.R. Rider onto your ballclub. I think Hawks management knows they made a mistake. It's a situation where you see the talent, and Rider has dramatic and tremendous talent, and you feel as though you can be the team that gets the talent out, that he'll settle in ... be the team that gets him to change his stripes. And look at Rider now: He's with the Lakers and seems to be fitting in. Of course, winning helps.

CNNSI.com's Loughery: I can't really remember the circumstances around the time "Pistol" was traded. I know that neither Meminger, a nice power forward, nor Kauffman, a point guard, would do much of anything in Atlanta.

Loughery says Maravich just didn't click as a pro. 
Jonathan Daniel/Allsport The thing about "Pistol" was that he just never got it done in the pros. He never was the player he was in college. Obviously everybody knew how fancy he was -- he was a great showman -- but honestly, he was a poor defensive player. He never really fit into the pro game. He never had the career. He was exciting, no question, so from a fan's perspective, this might have been a disappointing deal, but from a value point of view, it wasn't so terrible."

CNNSI.com: Meminger averaged 7.1 points in two seasons with the Hawks; Kauffman averaged 3.9 in one. And what really hurt was that the No. 1 pick the Hawks got -- high-scoring David Thompson -- never signed. He went to Denver of the ABA ... just in time for the merger one season later. His 22.1 career average would have looked nice in a Hawks uniform.

Maravich, who did thrill Atlantans to the tune of 27.7 ppg in his final season, went home to New Orleans and continued to put up big numbers for subpar teams. In today's NBA, he would make every episode of SportsCenter while being the bane of his coach's existence.

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